Oakhaven Dawning
by Karianasan
Summary: Part 3 of 4, Romantic Pairing. SV


The partying at Oak haven stretched long after the Hex Girls had stopped playing. It lasted until dawn, till people retired to their beds. The gang had been invited by many of the local's to stay at various places, feeling bad for the commotion they had caused the night before. Though only a few had been witness to the real witch, rather then the one the townsfolk had made up. As most of the town slept, there was one who was not able to find solace in resting.

Sleep was no use to the youngest of Mystery Inc.

Velma found herself wandering, making erratic patterns as she retraced everywhere she had gone with… him. Trying to recall if there was any sign, any time she might have figured out that she had been walking into a trap. That he was going to betray her. But the only thing she remembered were about him… How his hair looked, his clean his teeth were when he shot her that smile…

"No no no…" Velma groaned, pushing away the memories, falling to her knees as the final memory of him that had been engrained in her skull pushed to the surface.

_What's the matter Velma…  
Don't you like the new and improved Ben Ravencroft?_

Tears streaked her face, flowing like miniature rivers. She cursed her inability to see what he truly was. But he had been smart… Smart enough to use her own intelligence and feelings against her. She knew why she fell for him, and although she wished to think other wise, she probably in the same situation, do it all over again.

"Velma!" Came a voice from afar, it was someone calling out her name in search of her. Another voice came after that, echoing in the night. The gang was looking for her. Frightened, though of what exactly she wasn't sure, Velma got up and ran. With her heart in her ears, she burst through the underbrush and just ran for all she was worth. Flinching, she didn't care as the branches torn at her hair and ran across her face. She just didn't want the rest of the gang finding her like this. To add to her difficulty, she was still crying, making seeing rather difficult. But her stubbornness made up for her lack of sight as she pressed on as fast as she could. It was like a furnace was inside of her, burning her lungs from the inside at the effort to keep up with her frantic pace. Had she been in better mental state, she would have adjusted her running to help her run further and more away. But now was not exactly Velma's noble prize winning moment for thought processes.

Panting, she was forced to stop; finding herself leaning on a side of a barn. The wood felt cool against her warm skin from the exhausting run. But the calls for her came again, though they seemed further away. It seemed her deer like dash through the woods attracted their attention.

She wasn't ready… She couldn't face them yet…

Searching for a way in, Velma found the doors locked and bolted tight. If she tried any harder the noise would be more then she would wish to make right now. The voices came closer as she strained to search without giving her body a chance to fully recover from running. Though her way in came out of something she had not expected to find.

Moving her foot cautiously, she moved herself through the Shaggy-made hole. More memories flooded her consciousness as she came upon the barn that she had thought of how to solve the witches ghost mystery in. Though she wished that was all that had to be solved was a simple fake ghost.

Before Velma had a chance to slip back into her wallowing, a snap of a branch made her go stiff. Someone was right outside, though she could not tell whom it could be. It was hard enough to hear the footsteps past the pounding of her heart in her head, making it throb like a dull headache. Her breath came in short bursts, trying to recover from her run and fright against her fears. But the footsteps just came closer. She wished she had her flashlight to help herself find a better hiding spot, but she had came up against the wall and had not the time to hide before she heard the person outside the barn. She didn't dare move, for fear of being found.

A rattle came at the lock at the front of the barn, spooking her. But this was not the first nor would be the last time she had hid from someone, so she forced herself to breath calmly. With a lot of effort, Velma closed her eyes and gritted her teeth in concentration to get her breathing normal and lower her heart rate to a high enough point she was at least used to. But the rattling had stopped; the person seemed to not be trying any harder to get in that direction. There was a bit of relief. She sighed running a hand through her hair as she noticed a few twigs had gotten stuck. She didn't care about them; she would care about them in the morning. Peering at the door, she strained her ears to catch the sound of where the person might be now. She couldn't hear anything, hoping in her mind that they had gone. Retreating back to where she had her back to the wall, she brought her head around to look at the doorway she had entered in.

Someone was standing there, through the hole.

"WAH!" Came a shocked and startled yell from Velma. Trying to run she only ended up catching herself on a nearby tire and that had sent her tumbling to the dirt-covered floor. Tangled in the tire, she hadn't the time to run before the figure came over to her.

"Velma?" Came a soft, almost whispered voice from the figure. She knew that voice and stopped struggling against the tire to look up at him. "Shaggy?"

Moving quicker then she expected, Shaggy moved in to hug her.

"I'm so thankful you are alright." He said in a rushed voice burrowing his face into her shoulder, his arms holding her up off the floor. She was shocked to say the least, bringing her arms up slowly to pat him on the back but could not find words to explain. Though his hug was getting heavy with her already strained lungs. "...Air." She squeaked out.

"Oh, like' sorry Velms." He apologized, releasing her from his bear hug and setting her down on the floor where she could sit up on her own. He moved up, only to be able to extract the tire from where she had gotten a leg stuck. She watched him in the shadows, the dawn light not too bright yet as it streamed through the hole. She was thankful for the shadow cover for her face, since she must have looked like a wreck. When he looked over at her, Velma dropped her eyes to the ground so she was not making eye contact.

"I'm fine, really I am. I… I just needed to get some fresh air." Came the stubborn response from Velma, trying to put up her defenses and shield herself from everyone else. Better not to worry them any more then she had already done. Shaggy moved to sit by her and even though she was not looking at him, he was looking at her.

"So… To get fresh air… You are hiding in a musty old barn. There must be something I don't know, because I figured like' all the fresh air would be outside." He commented, adding a brief laugh at the end, since he was trying to make a joke to lighten the mood.

In her usual response, she turned to glare at him. Though as she looked at him, his intense look of concern on his face made her turn away as soon as she saw it. Making her feel guilty. So she tried to cover it up.

"Well… the inside of the barn makes for a…" Before she was able to rack her brain for some intelligent sounding words to try to throw him off, he spoke up. 

"…Well your know what your are talking about, so I'll believe you."

_No no no no… Your not allowed to agree with me. _Velma's head protested. This is not how things are supposed to go. Usually she argues, they argue back, she makes a witty response and everything is better. And the problem is forgotten. _He's not supposed to just agree. That messes up the whole thing._

A long stretch of silence entered the room; Velma wasn't sure what to say since her mind was still arguing with herself. While her mind was so caught up with itself, was caught off guard a bit when Shaggy settled sitting next to her, his shoulder brushing up against her own. She stiffened, but the relaxed when she had to force herself to remember this was Shaggy after all. All the times she caught him was fine, so she should not be freaking out so much just because he was sitting next to her. Taking a deep breath, she let it out and leaned with her head against the wall she was on, gazing up at the ceiling and trying to figure out what to say next.

"…I just don't understand why you're being so stupid…" Remarked Shaggy.

If there is one thing you want to do to get Velma's attention, calling her stupid is definitely 100 accurate. She turned, glaring at him and she opened her mouth to argue, yell or do something but he wasn't even looking at her. Which paused her enough for him to get his next statement out.

"…You spend so long being strong for us, on cases, off cases. Making sure we are ok before you… That when you are hurting, you don't let us pick up the slack. Aren't we your friends? Don't you trust us? Don't you trust… me?" His eyes met her, with a look of questioning and confusion. He had solved many cases, yet what she was doing was and had always puzzled him. But nothing this bad had ever happened enough for him to get seriously worried over her. There was only so much someone could take, even if they were strong. It just has to hurt more then a normal person might feel to affect them.

"…The concert must have been so hard on you to be on stage like that and perform with everyone watching when it hurt so badly. We all were worried about you. I was worried about you." He admitted, with… Was that a slight blush across his face? Velma shook the idea off. _Nah, it couldn't be. _She thought to herself. _There was no way he could._ Pulling up her knees, she hugged around them as she digested what he said.

Gently, his hand and arm slipped past her guard and wrapped around her back and shoulders. He pulled on her to knock her balance to set her right into his chest. Since she had been wrapped so tightly around her own knees, she had no way to block or prevent falling her head into him. He pulled her close, trying to embrace her in a hug as much as he could with one hand.

"I don't know what I would do without you… The gang wouldn't feel the same. Nothing would feel right if you were gone." He admitted whole heartily. Velma had struggled at first, but wasn't sure why she was. It was awkward, but his words were reaching her ears. Maybe it was also since she felt the sudden stuffiness of being hugged so close, burrowing her face into his shirt. But… It felt so warm.

Not just being so close, but also what he was saying and the feeling behind his words. His grip was strong, yet not a death grip. He was a bit tense, but it seemed to be lessening as she fought less against him. She left herself get lost in the moment, being held so dearly and having those words of concern and meaning directed at her. Since there was no one else that he was hugging at the moment, except her. Her mind tried to fight against her calming feeling, with taunting memories of Ben. She shuddered, and tried to push away from Shaggy.

"… This… I just…" With her protests, he reluctantly let her push a bit away from him, but kept the hold around her shoulders just giving her enough room to get face to face with him and talk.

"You just what?" He asked, trying to figure her out. His eyes locked on her. 

"I… I… I just can't." She couldn't look into his eyes. It was all her fault. She helped release a witch that had Thorn not been conveniently there, destroyed the world. Maybe Shaggy was right that she was stupid. She could have killed them all.

"If you keep doing this, you'll end up just making things worse for yourself. That's why it's a team effort. We are there for you; you are there for us. You really have to get that through your thick skull of yours." He tapped his knuckles lightly on top of her head. "I'm responsible for unleashing a mass of Ghosts into the world, we fixed that. We nearly got killed by a bunch of Were Cats helping Daphne with her TV show. We lived. It's all part of that crazy life we lead." He gave a bit of a laugh at the end of that. "Heh…. A bit scary, but it happens and we move on to the next scary thing in life. But what makes it bearable is being able to be with you guys though it all." He leaned over and picked up her chin to make her look at him. He waited till she was tired of straining her eyes to look away before she had to look at him.

"Being with you makes me ready to take on stuff without needed Scooby Snacks." He gushed at her. She rolled her eyes, but then had to stop when he got a serious look on his face. It was not something she had seen him look like often.

"Close your eyes." He said quietly. Her brows furrowed as she shot him a questioning look.

"Just do it." He told her, a bit of a grin peeking through his serious demeanor. But she still didn't close her eyes. Fed up, he shook his head and slid his long fingers under her glasses to cover her eyes for her.

_What is he doing? _She asked herself, and reluctantly closed her eyes. Her eyelashes fluttering across his palm as she shut them

"No Looking!" He ordered. She lightly snorted but kept her eyes closed. He was probably getting smudge marks across her glasses doing this.

"Keep your eyes shut." 

"Fine fine." She huffed, as his fingers slid out from over her face. She started to crack one eye open but he noticed.

"Ah… No. No peeking." He waited till she gave in and waited. She could feel him close, he was taking in a few deep breaths. Her mind just argued with her with the reasons he was doing this, all seeming impossible… Not Shaggy… But then why not? As he seemed to be getting ready for something, her mind played with the sides of the argument. _We're just friends… _One side said, while the next countered. _But it sounds like he cares more about you then friends. _Her mind debated. _How could he even like me? I'm always bossing him around, and we argue. _She belittled herself. _But you do care about him too. _Came another little voice in the background. _Well, I've known him all my life. We grew up together._ Childhood friends. Playmates since a young age. _Then why is your heart racing right now?_ Another small voice tried to call out over the louder ones of her doubt and insecurities. _What about Ben… Ben cared about using you. _The words sounded sinister. It made her flinch, also since Shaggy had put his hand on her shoulder. It was Shaking, trembling for some reason. _He's scared… Always a coward. _Came a little part of her she never liked. _He's not a coward. He comes through when I need him to… When…_

The feeling was one that took her a second to realize what it was. It was almost as if a bit of her hair had fallen across her forehead. But, it wasn't a piece of hair. The touch was as gentle as a butterfly, but it had significance to it. A glancing moment that made time stand still. Her eyes fluttered open to look up at Shaggy kissing her forehead, his goatee brushing across almost making her giggle from being tickled. He opened his eyes, which he had to close to calm himself enough to actually get the courage to kiss her; he found her looking at him. She was surprised that he didn't move out of the way to give her room. He hung in that closeness to her that seemed to drown out the voices in her head. 

Tilting down his head, he put his head against where he had kissed and almost brushed noses with her to look at her eyes.

"…You deserve much more." He admitted. "But it's a start, isn't it." His look was like an earnest puppy, trying to appease his master. His only goal was to make her happy. Placing both elbows lightly on his shoulders, she brought up both hands to rest her hands one of top of the other in his hair. She closed her eyes and sighed. 

"You're really giving me a hard time to be hard on myself right now, you know that?" She tried to keep a straight face, but the corners of her mouth seemed to be tugging towards one side of her face.

"I live to be a hassle. It's what I do best." He countered.

"Touché" She remarked, though not feeling like he actually made a worthy enough argument, she right now didn't feel in the mood to argue. She was just enjoying the moment.

She almost let him hear her disappointment when he decided to move away for him. Almost. Looking up at him, he grinned down at her and held out a hand to help her up off the ground where they had been sitting.

"We should be getting back. They will be sending in the swat soon if we don't get you back."

She snorted and shook her head at the thought of the local paper. "Witch was a fraud, party was rocking, and youngest member of the Mystery Inc was found locked inside a barn with another member of the group. Scandal on page eight. No thanks." Pulling herself up, she got to her feet and took time to dust off her skirt.

"Eek!" Came a squeak from Shaggy. He jumped into her arms and by instinct to the noise and the sound she caught him.

"What! What?" She braced herself and looked around for what spooked him. With nothing in sight, she then looked over at him and found him grinning.

"Carry me!" He gushed dramatically. With a narrowing of her eyes, she turned her head off to the side and let go, depositing him on the ground. "…No." She huffed, but the smile she was straining not to show was giving away her amusement at his gesture. She was feeling a lot better now, even though she still felt guilty of it all.

Jumping to his feet, he bopped her on the head. Almost like he could read her thoughts. Which, for him at the moment was clear what that just might be.

"No. Not allowed."

"But." She tried to argue.

"Don't make me make you catch me again." He threatened.

"And what makes you think I'll catch you this time?" She shot him a sarcastic look.

"Because you care to much to drop me… Well at first." He grinned.

She glared at him, and then gave up under his over positive grin. "Fine, you win for now."

"Yay! Do I get a prize?" He said giddily, grinning more if that was possible. She backhanded him lightly on the shoulder but gave in to the smile that he was forcing upon her. Pushing away her negative thoughts for now.

"Now you're pushing it."

"Fine fine… But I still owe you a better kiss next time."

"N...N…next time?" He didn't give her any more time to argue with him before he ran off ahead of her.

"Race you there!"

She watched him run off, far enough for her not to be able to remark at him, but close enough for her to catch up. "Brat." She muttered to herself, shaking her head in defeat. He won this time.

"Wait for me!" She yelled, running after him.


End file.
